Enraged man hurt wife and knifed dog

A HUSBAND who tried to throttle his wife and then stabbed their pet dog because he was woken from his sleep has been forgiven.

Tina Evriviades says she wants her husband back at their home in Skellow, Doncaster, because he has “learned his lesson” and a judge at Doncaster Crown Court duly obliged.

Recorder Martin Bethel QC released father-of-four Evro Evriviades from custody, where he was held on remand, and placed him on a two-year supervision order with a condition he attends an intensive domestic abuse programme.

But he warned the 47-year-old: “If there is any other episode of assaulting your wife the court is going to regard it as very serious indeed. I do hope things can be resolved.”

Evriviades pleaded guilty to an offence of affray committed at the family house in Birch Avenue, where police had previously been called to incidents of domestic violence, although they were not pursued by his wife, who is disabled with a serious back condition, said Carl Fitch, prosecuting.

On the morning of January 10 Mrs Evriviades tried to wake her husband from a sleep on the sofa and went into the kitchen where he followed her in a rage, shouting: “I hate you, I’m going to kill you.”

He grabbed her round the throat with both hands and squeezed for a number of seconds before he let go and pushed her to the floor.

Evriviades was then seen to raise his fist but reached for a 7ins knife on the worktop and the wife feared she would be stabbed, but the family dog, Max, was growling at him so he dropped to one knee and plunged the knife into the pet’s chest.

“He pulled it out and there was blood on the blade, which had gone in about 2ins, and the dog was yelping and crying in distress,” said Mr Fitch.

The dog was later treated and stitched up by a vet and made a full recovery.

In a later statement to police, Mrs Evriviades said her husband had since “become the man I married all over again. The kids miss him and we intend to work on our relationship.”

Kath Goddard, defending, said he was normally “a quiet and caring man and he bitterly regrets all of his behaviour that day”.

She added: “He does not seek to justify any of his behaviour or blame anybody but himself.”

He had been up all night and had just got to sleep when he was woken up and snapped.